London Ambulance Service swamped with calls because of heatwave

Hot: A woman cycles to work in central London yesterday Picture: Jeremy Selwyn Jeremy Selwyn

London Ambulance Service recorded its busiest summer day in history as soaring temperatures saw it deluged with emergency calls.

Paramedics were dispatched to 1,571 life-threatening incidents yesterday - 25 per cent more than the previous Wednesday - as the Met Office declared it the warmest July day ever with 36.7 degrees recorded at Heathrow.

The “category A” calls - which require an emergency crew to arrive within eight minutes - included 266 cases where the patient had breathing problems and 286 where they were unconscious or fainting.

It came as hundreds of Andy Murray fans queued through night in sweltering conditions for the chance to watch the British number one continue his bid to reclaim his Wimbledon title today.

Hundreds of fans camped out desperate for a ticket to Number One court to watch his second round match against Dutch player Robin Haase.

Fellow Brits Aljaz Bedene and James Ward are also in action at the All England Club today.

If either of them succeed it will be the first time Britain has had more than one man in the third round since 1999.

Players, staff and fans at the All England Club endured unusually hot conditions yesterday as temperatures in London soared.

On Court 17, a ball boy collapsed in what is understood to have been an epileptic fit.

The boy was attended by St John’s Ambulance and taken to hospital for a checkup.

John Isner, who was playing on court 17 at the time, said it was “a very scary situation” and sent his well wishes to the boy, believed to be a year 11 pupil at Tiffin School grammar school in Kingston upon Thames.

He said afterwards: “My back was turned. I was on the other side. Our changeover just ended.

“I unfortunately saw him on the ground. It was a very scary situation.

“You know, I’m not a doctor, but it looked looked like an epileptic seizure. It was very scary.

Hottest day of the year - in pictures

Hottest day of the year - in pictures

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Chilled

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Laid back

Sun-worshippers made the most of the heatwave in St James's Park (Picture: PA)

Stefan Rousseau/PA

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Wimbledon

Players such as Maria Sharapova endured the hottest day on record at SW19 (Picture: PA)

Jonathan Brady/PA

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Rain dance

Fountains on the Southbank proved popular in the heat (Picture: AP)

AP Photo/Frank Augstein

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Hot pursuit

A policeman swelters in Westminster (Picture: Jeremy Selwyn)

JEREMY SELWYN

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Wimbledon

Spectators soak up the sun on Murray Mount during day Three of the championships

Mike Egerton/PA

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Macaw

A man strolls through Hyde Park with his two hyacinth macaws, apparently inexplicably (Picture: AP)

AP Photo/Frank Augstein

He added: “I don’t think epilepsy gets much play on today’s world. It’s a very big issue...So it’s scary and I hips that kid is all right. I hear that he is. He just needs to rest up.”

Temperatures in the capital were forecast to peak at 25C today with thundery showers likely. The heatwave is expected to continue into the weekend.

MeteoGroup’s Nick Prebble said: “Temperatures will be suppressed today, about 10C lower than yesterday with highs of 25C or 26C. It will be noticeably cooler but still warm.

“Friday will likely stay nice and dry across most places and temperatures will be a little warmer, around 27C or 28C, although there will be some unsettled weather Friday night with more thunderstorms.

“Looking into the weekend, it could top 30C again on Saturday in the South East and London and temperatures will be above average elsewhere too, going in to Sunday.”

A London Ambulance spokeswoman said yesterday was the service’s busiest day outside of winter for total 999 calls received - 6,641 were received - and for the number of category A emergencies.

The service, which had the worst response in the country to emergency calls last year, is beginning to improve its performance. Since April it has reached an additional 2.5 per cent more calls within the target than planned.